Dear 21st September 2012 – On Saturday, 29th September 2012, Badilisha Poetry X-Change will present four local poets as part of the global 100 thousand Poets for Change to weave words, works and wisdom, whilst celebrating the ability of poetry and art to change how we think and feel about our world. The 100 Thousand Poets for Change in Cape Town features a diverse sample of South Africa’s thriving poetry community in the poets Mak Manaka, Karin Schimke, Lwanda Sindaphi and Shirmoney Rhode. “The Badilisha Poetry X-Change project joined this global initiative because we believe that poetry has the power to bring about deep and meaningful change. Our event aims to reflect on the role we all have in creating change. The poets chosen were invited to perform because their work speaks to change on an individual level – what it entails, how it can affect us and also the often challenging journey of being a change agent,” says Badilisha project manager Linda Kaoma. “Whether through accounts in their personal lives and relationships, reflections on the change they want to see in their own communities or in South Africa, their words are powerful, compelling and engaging.” The Badilisha Poetry X-Change evening, which has been curated by Toni Stuart, starts at 19h00 at the Youngblood Beautifull Life Building on Bree Street in Cape Town. It joins 650 cities in 115 countries in the annual 100 Thousand Poets for Change occasion as poets, musicians and artists simultaneously call for environmental, social and political change. A host of concerts, readings, workshops, flash mobs, parades and demonstrations will be taking place world wide. A project of the Africa Centre, Badilisha Poetry X-Change is a platform for Africa’s contemporary and historic poets to be captured, heard and celebrated. In addition to live events, Badilisha hosts the only freely accessible, online radio channel for poets from Africa and its Diaspora. It gives a long-awaited voice to those who articulate the reality of a vibrant and exciting continent. - ends -

Useful links:
          
   
Website: www.badilisapoetry.com
Tickets available through

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   Media release by the Africa Centre:
   For media queries contact: Linda Kaoma
   Tel: 27 87 150 5446
   Email: lindak@africacentre.net
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Biographies of the featured poets

Mak Manaka
Maakomele Manaka was born in Diepkloof zone 6, Soweto in 1983; the first of two boys born to artistic parents. Mak, as he is widely known, is the son of the late Matsemela Manaka a well-known visual artist, poet, playwright and black consciousness activist. His mother, Nomsa Kupi Manaka is a pioneer of African dance and an established dancer, choreographer, and actress in South Africa. With a natural artistic gift as a poet and writer and a strong artistic heritage, Mak was destined to be an artist.

In 2008, in pursuance of this goal, Maakomele Manaka launched his debut CD entitled Word Sound Power!! that combined music (deep range of reggae rhythms together with hip hop and jazz) and Conscious lyrics, it soon became a milestone album for Spoken Word in South Africa. In 2009 Manaka launched his second anthology In Time. The anthology sold out months after its release, and currently on its second print run. In 2010 he performed at the Zwakala Festival for deaf children, and he also performed at the annual languages awards, The Pen-Salb Awards. He also launched a writers program in the same year to encourage self-esteem in young people. In 2011 He performed at the M-Net awards, the Television Awards for Good (TAG). He is currently working on an anthology of short stories titled On Coming Traffic.

In 2012, Mak performed in Padova, Italy at the Porsche Live Festival. In June 2012, Mak represented South Africa at the 18th Genoa International Poetry Festival in Italy. In the same month he performed at the Listros Gallery in Berlin and facilitated workshops at the prestigious Humboldt University called Poetry 101. He performed at The Moving Poets in Berlin with an installation of a Berlin-based South African visual artist, Liz Crowley.

Karin Schimke
Schimke is a widely published journalist and columnist, and the Books Editor of the Cape Times. She also works as a writing tutor and mentor, an author of non-fiction, including the best-selling Fabulously Forty and Beyond (co-written with Margie Orford), of children’s books and of short stories. She edited Open, an anthology of erotic short stories written by some of South Africa’s best-known women writers. Her poetry has appeared in South Africa Writing, New Contrast, New Coin and Carapace magazines. Bare & Breaking is her first collection of poems.

Lwanda Sindaphi
Sindaphi is a poet, an actor, and writes and directs his own plays. He also uses hip-hop as another platform to express himself. He quotes his biggest achievement as being the Winner in the regional DFL Poetry Challenge, and being placed sixth at the National Final in Johannesburg.

Shirmoney Rhode
At 21 years old, Rhonde is a young and aspirant writer, poet and performer. She lives and grew up in Elsies River. Many of her work reflect her childhood experiences and give voice to the things that she experienced and is still experiencing. Seven of her poems have been published in 7de Reënboog, compiled by Florris Brown. She has performed the works of Adam Small at a seminar together with Prof. Antjie Krog of the University of the Western Cape.

Rhonde studies at the University of the Western Cape and is currently doing the final year of her BA degree, majoring in Afrikaans and Linguistics. She wishes to pursue a career in journalism and presenting. She is passionate about what she does and uses her writing to inspire change, change of mind and change of heart.

NOTES FOR THE EDITOR:

Badilisha Poetry X-Change
A project at the Africa Centre, the Badilisha Poetry X-Change project mainly plays out its vision through Badilisha Radio, a podcast platform. Badilisha’s intention is to platform who and what Africa has to say to itself and the rest of the world.

Each week, Badilisha features two new poets on the website from either the continent or the Diaspora who represent a diverse genre of poetry, maintaining a good balance of established and aspirant poets. It features poets from Kenya to Canada and many places in between that have added their voices to this dedicated space where the art of word and sound is poured into meaning, passionate experience, and humour. Badilisha Poetry Radio is the only freely accessible, online collective of contemporary and historic poets from Africa and its Diaspora. It gives a long-awaited voice to those who articulate the reality of a vibrant and exciting continent.

Although Badilisha’s aims are now mainly realised through Badilisha Radio, it hosts small-scaled poetry events a few times every year.

About the Africa Centre
Founded in 2005, the Africa Centre provides a platform for exploring contemporary Pan-African arts and cultural practice and knowledge creation as a catalyst for social change. The Africa Centre’s objectives are to: formulate innovative models for presenting, debating and encouraging cultural production and the pursuit of knowledge; provide broad access to the creative work and ideas of historical and contemporary African thought leaders and artists; and re-examine the role, identity, transience and creation of cultural expression and knowledge.

Badilisha Poetry is one of multiple Africa Centre projects, which include:
• Artist in Residency Programme – in partnership, this project awards, across artistic discipline, 10 residencies each year;
• Infecting The City – an annual public arts festival that stages and exhibits thought-provoking works in the communal spaces of Cape Town;
• Talking Heads – a multi–layered platform conceived to profile the ideas and manifestations of the extraordinary people living in Africa; and
• WikiAfrica – an international collaboration that, through a range of interventions, redresses the critical imbalance of factual information about Africa on Wikipedia.

For more information visit www.africacentre.net


 

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